The giant 10 ft. x 17 ft. mobile custom-designed by Calgarian Greg Ball has just been installed in the EV Experience Centre. Things are looking up!

Construction on the EV Experience Centre is fast and furious these days as the grand opening approaches. CMLC is occupying the middle section of the Experience Centre, flanked by our two developer partners. Our ceiling is high, very high – some 24 feet – so an Alexander Calder-inspired mobile was designed to dance in the space above visitors’ heads. The mobile was built by renowned Calgary industrial designer Greg Ball.

The first thing Ball did when he got the commission was seek out every image he could find of the graceful, airy and playful Calder mobiles that dot institutions from the Museum of Modern Art and The Guggenheim in New York to the National Gallery in Washington and the National Gallery of Canada. The second thing he did was begin to make very small mobiles of wire and paper to try to understand where pieces should hang from the rods, and what size they needed to be in order to hang in balance. The horizontal rods had to turn on their axes independently, as did the logo shapes. And then there’s the small matter of aesthetics. “It has to work,” says Ball, “and it has to look good.”

Now that it’s installed, we can attest to the good looks of the mobile. It hangs in the centre of the space, above the 13 square foot model of East Village. That’ll be the last thing to be installed. We can’t wait to show it to you.